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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Big House

The Big House is very much in vogue in these booming economic times and we have been fortunate enough to design a few of them.  It is quite a responsibility to design a Big House to meet the needs and requirements of a specific family, whether large or small, not to mention having to stay within the building easements on the lot!

We have designed Italian villas with tile roofs and stone floors, as well as English country houses with lots of level changes and  large country kitchens where the lady of the house reigns instead of a professional cook, but the uniquely indigenous style here in Oklahoma is "The Ranch House" with a casual eat-in kitchen as well as a dining room large enough for a whole crew of harvest hands.

Whatever the style, The Big House will have at least two living areas--a "formal" living room, often furnished with brocade sofas, glass tables and fancy lamps and a "family room" finished and furnished with tougher stuff.  Sometimes the children of the house have an entire wing of bedrooms and baths, often with a rec room of their own for ping-pong, loud music and teen-age parties.  Parents will then have a suite of rooms at the opposite end of the house with sound insulation, stereo and television suite, compartmentalized his & her closets, and spa bath and shower rooms, also his and hers.

A close acquaintance of ours has a Big House designed by a "famous architect" with the children's wing and the grownup's wing separated by a common living and reception area. He has turned the now vacant children's wing into a home office with guest accommodations, so a good design can have flexibility for the future when a Big House is no longer needed for a big family.  Other owners of Big Houses have big parties and lots of house guests.  Some have big extended families with grandchildren, in-laws, and visiting friends.  So the Big House can have quite a bit of flexible use after the big family for which it was originally built moves out.   

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